625/License to be bad

License to be bad
Date of Scene:	21 October 2023
Location:	Mitakihara Ward
Synopsis:	Hinoiri and Haruka run into each other while getting their licenses. They're both definitely classmates and definitely old enough to legally get their licenses. Yup. Just ask them.
Cast of Characters:	Hinoiri Kirara, Haruka Tenoh

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Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara walked back into the prefectural governments' public safety commissions building, a grin on her lip. Besides her, the tester was marking off the test and nodding along. "Mmmmm hm, all you need to do now is pass the written exam and you're set," he said.

"Oh, thank you so much," Hinoiri said with a gentle smile. "I'm so lucky to have such a knowledgable proctor giving my test," she said with a smile, making the man blush when he walked off, chuckling and rubbing his head... She rolled her eyes and then went to sit down and wait, rolling her eyes.

As if she DIDN'T know how to butter up a proctor. Still, she wasn't doing it because she couldn't pass. She was doing it so they wouldn't look too closely and realize she was just a liiiiiittle too young to be driving.

Haruka Tenoh has posed:
There are two ways to go about making people not pay attention to your age. One of them is Hinoiri's plan - to butter them up. Another one is Haruka's plan - to be terribly perfectly obnoxiously efficent at everything so they have no reason to look at it. She's not even dressed as a boy today, instead she has dug out her one tame dress and earrings. She still looks good - it is Haruka - but it's less of an everyone look at me style than usual. She does, however, recognize Hinoiri.

    Coming out of the other part of the same building as the instructor went over Haruka's sheet. "Well, I see no reason why you shouldn't be approved, at all. You are obviously a very knowledgeable, safe, and stable driver." he says. Haruka manages not to smile.

    Then she ends up... sitting next to Hinoiri at the waiting chairs. Both of them have seen each other and know they're at the same grade level - which is about a year too early to be here. Is a license still legal if you get it under false pretenses? Probably not, but maybe it helps. Haruka isn't sure what to say, if anything. All she's doing right now is hoping Hinoiri doesn't say anything that makes a scene for both of them, since it's all going so well for her right now.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara glanced up at the other girl who sat next to her, then went back to her phone (some phone game? It seemed to be a spelling game or something). However, a moment later she looked up again. "Tenoh-san?" Hinoiri asked.

The two hadn't really interacted much. Sure, they were both in the motorcycle club and Hinoiri recognized her. Primarily as one of the few girls there who WEREN'T a complete waste of her time and space. Someone who was competent enough to GET THE JOB DONE. She uhhhh, didn't have a lot of those, to be honest.

But, when Hinoiri had competition who might be (almost) as good as her, she tended to notice. Granted, if she realized just how good Haruka WAS, she'd... likely realize while she was REALLY good, for what she was, she wasn't in Haruka's league at all. She could maybe win a junior dirt bike race... Haruka was an ACTUAL PROFESSIONAL.

For a moment there was confusion, why was she...

And then the realization clicked in. And then the proctor showed up. "Kirara-chan? There was an issue on this, is this a seven or a one?"

"Huh? Oh, a three," Hinoiri said.

"..." Wow, her hand writing was AWFUL. "I see. Oh good, you're both here. Tenoh-chan, the test will start in about ten minutes. Sorry, we're running a bit behind today. I hope you two aren't getting too antsy."

"Oh, that's fine," Hinoiri said quickly. "Actually, we're classmates. We were just talking about last weeks math quiz."

Yes, she could lie. But basically... a silent agreement from Hinoiri on that. 'Don't out me, I won't out you'.

"Ah, that's good, I'll let you two get back to it," he said before turning to leave.

"So, how'd you do on the practical?" Hinoiri asked, because she couldn't not.

Haruka Tenoh has posed:
Haruka looked up when her last name was noted. "Yes. Kirara-san. Mhm." She was, in fact, getting antsy. In a sense. It wasn't visible in how she carried herself, but it was noticable in the way she was talking. She was trying to project an aura, and it was 'refined near-adult woman' and not 'too cool for any rules' - in a way, being the girl she'd resisted being for so long. But it was only temporary. It was a ruse. It was a fake. She just had to get through today, through this.

    "Ten minutes is fine." She says, when the delay is brought up. Fidgiting with her hands. Once the proctor is out of earshot. "I did really well on the test." she admits. "It was... really hard... to ride so boring..." she begrudges. "All of this is so boring. I'm counting down the seconds." she adds. "So yeah. Uh. Math. Is fine."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara felt a little relief, honestly. Knowing another student was here. Then again... her entire identity was fake, so what did it matter if she shifted some of the 'ages' around a little for a license? She passed all the rules...

"I know, right?" she mumbled softly, under her breath. "Having to follow all those rules, double check every little thing. A long straight away and not even allowed to go full tilt just to see how fast you can go... instead having to act mundane," she muttered, though she kept her smile on her fast.

"At least we're almost done, right? Then legal drivers, finally."

... Definitely implying she had been driving without being legal. Then again, Haruka might have heard the rumors... and likely had a few about herself.

Hinoiri had her own mask she was putting on. The 'excited girl getting her license!' who was just sooooo ridiculously sweet and oh my gosh, suuuuuuch a follower of all the rules, right?

"Was the bike they tested you on making that rattling noise too?"

Haruka Tenoh has posed:
Haruka sighed and leaned back. "I thought I was gonna blow it on that straightaway for sure." she admits, letting out a long sigh. She pauses. "Yes. Legal drivers." Then she coughs. "I've been waiting sixteen years for this!" Right. Sixteen years. Old enough. Saying it out loud.

    And then she leaned over, and in a much more Haruka way. "Sometime after when we're both legal drivers..." she whispers "... we should absolutely not find somewhere with a long straightaway and have a race. That would be irresponsible of us." she says, then leans back.

    "Oh man if they would -let- me work on it I would do it for free. Do they even have maintenance for those bikes? Wow."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara gave a small snicker, a hand over her mouth. "Oh, I can definitely understand that. Feels like I've been waiting for it almost since I learned how to walk." Which, on two legs, WAS a newer experience for her. And oddly an older experience. But what did they say? It was like... riding a bike?

But ohhhhh. Haruka said the magic words. Hinoiri's eyes glimmered. Why, they almost shimmered. "We could definitely never do something like that. Onroad or offroad?" she asked, a cocky grin on her lips. Heh. If this girl had ANY idea who she was going up against...

At least, Hinoiri thought that. If she only KNEW.

At least she knew this girl DEFINITELY wasn't a sparkle skirt. No goody two shoes sparkle skirt could EVER do something like THIS.

"Tell me about it, like having to work a wounded animal. Poor thing needs to be stabled and tended to before it explodes. I can't imagine how many drivers think it's them messing it up. Was so hard not to start checking out the valve train myself."

Haruka Tenoh has posed:
Haruka has no idea how long Hinoiri has been walking. But then again, Hinoiri has no idea how much racing Haruka's actually gotten to do. Which is a lot. Though more in cars. "Whichever one you're more comfortable with. I made the challenge, so you get to pick the course, I think that's how it goes?" Haruka asks, feeling more like herself now than she has since putting on this dress.

    Not all of the sparkleskirts were the same degrees of 'good and pure' Especially not Haruka/Sailor Uranus. Some of them were about Getting Business Done.

    "I don't know much about animals, but I know a lot about engines, and that engine needs work. Otherwise it's gonna need replacement." she says, bluntly. "It makes me wonder if the proctors know anything, if they can't even keep the bike going well. How are they gonna judge someone's ability on such busted hardware, I don't know. But I guess the bikes aren't supposed to be fun, anyways." she says, leaning back and crossing her legs for a moment before remembering how she's dressed and acting and begrudgingly sitting up straight and proper.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara considered it for a few moments, before... "Tuesday night, edge of Juuban district, the hill lookout near that pizza place with the big duck. Best of three, first one to the top, first one through the mud paths... then first one down?" Ohhhhh. She wasn't just challenging Haruka to the same three laps. She was challenging her to three different types of races. And she sounded like she was either VERY arrogant... or very good.

... Both. Both were true.

But the area was fairly abandoned, so easy enough.

"They probably know how to drive and that's about it," Hinoiri said with a sigh. "You see it a lot. People want to understand how to steer a boat, but don't want to understand the basic mechanics of how a boat operates. They can drive enough to meet the legal requirements to drive... but they don't care enough to truly enjoy the feeling of pushing the bike to its limits and how good it feels to really cut loose on a straight away... to them, it's just a machine that gets them from point A to point B."

Ironically... were she back home she'd have likely seen it the same way. But since it was one of the few things that made her feel like herself again... she'd... become a bit more attached.

Haruka Tenoh has posed:
Haruka pays attention, for a moment. "I'm not gonna remember that." she admits. "But, I can remember the hill lookout near the duck pizza place. The rest you can remind me of when we're there." she says. She knows her limits. Memorization is for literally everyone else in her team of 3(4).

    The way she talks though, it's clear Sunbreaker cares a lot about her bike, about riding, about the fun aspects. Haruka can respect that. A lot. "Alright. Well, I hope you can give me a challenge in racing. It's not hard to challenge my memory, that sucks. But racing? That's tougher." She says with a smile. "It's a lot more than a machine to get me somewhere. It's... the roar of an engine, the power..." and she pauses. Right. She's in a -mode- that isn't racer Haruka. She sighs. "You know what I mean, I just don't want to be anything more than a girl who's about to get her license, right now." she says, calming herself.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara nodded. "It'll be fun. Don't be late," she said in a playful tone. "Or I'll think you're scared. Here. Text me at XXX-XXXX and we can setup the time in case you get lost," she said.

The comment on the power, though, made her pause. And then she shrugged. "Honestly... I mostly like the feeling of the wind through my hair. Being close to the ground, like I'm practically galloping on all fours, like the bike is a part of my body and I'm not just a pathetic human and am instead this powerful two wheeled..." Pause. "Okay, so maybe part of it IS the power of the engine."

... Okay, she was a bit delusional, but passion mattered, right?

And it was a few moments later... that their names were called. "Welp. Looks like we're up. Great seeing this side of you, Tenoh-san," she said. "If we don't get out at the same time, I'll see you in class tomorrow, okay?" she said, loud enough for the proctor to hear. After all, they were both 16 year old students, right?

Haruka Tenoh has posed:
Haruka laughs. "The way you talk, it's like you'd rather be on four legs than two. At least choose four wheels." she smirks. "Right, in class tomorrow." Haruka agrees, nodding as she gets up. Only a little bit more and she could have the stupid bit of documentation. The illegal legal proof. And then she was going to get in a car anyways and drive it really fast. In a short sleeve shirt and pants.